The horrendous incident has prompted fierce debate across India with many demanding the death penalty for those responsible and and new laws to better protect women.

Delhi has a high number of crimes against women but there has been a 20 per cent increase in rape cases this year.

In 2011 there were 482 complaints in Delhi - dubbed 'the rape capital' - compared with 582 up to the end of November and there are 350 cases still to be heard.

A police chief sparked outrage yesterday after he suggested women should carry chilli powder to protect themselves and avoid going out at night.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters that the government would examine the demand and announced an official inquiry into last Sunday's rape attack.

It will also look at measures to improve safety and security for women.

Mr Shinde said five New Delhi police officers have been suspended for lack of prompt action following the rape attack.

He also met a delegation of student demonstrators and urged them to end their protest.

Delhi has a high number of crimes against women but there has been a 20 per cent increase in rape cases this year

Government ministers have promised swift justice in the case and new measures to better protect women

C.P.N. Singh, a junior home minister, appealed to the demonstrators, who were mostly students, to protest peacefully and avoid vandalising government property.

"The government is hearing you and taking steps necessary to ensure the safety of women," Mr Singh told reporters.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, a spokesman for the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, however, condemned the police action against the protesters and asked government leaders to talk to them.

The home minister also announced that GPS units will be installed in government buses to prevent them from straying from their allotted routes.

Also, bus drivers in New Delhi will be required to display their identification prominently in the vehicles and remove tinting from their windows.

The attack happened after the victim and a male friend, both from Uttar Pradesh, boarded the bus at around 9.30pm after watching a movie.

The 23-year-old victim is reportedly conscious and has scrawled notes to her family including one which read 'I want to live'

Six suspects have been arrested but police have also been suspended for failing to respond quickly enough

The man's uncle said that after they got onto the bus they saw a few people sitting inside.

'There were around seven people in the bus, who first started teasing him,' he said. 'Then they started harassing the victim to which he reacted and resisted.'

Angered by his resistance, they hit him with iron rods and other blunt objects found in the bus before taking the woman into the front cabin of the bus and raping her.

'Five to seven persons attacked the couple,' the uncle added. 'When my nephew tried to save the girl, he was beaten with iron rods, the girl was then gang-raped.'

Sources said that her clothes were cut with a blade which also sliced her abdomen and she was hit around the head.

The man's uncle continued: 'I saw the medical report. It says that she was raped by each person twice and then they dumped them at a secluded place in Mahipalpur after robbing them all their valuables including mobile phones.'

The assailants eventually stripped the pair and dumped them on the side of a road.

The victim had a two-hour operation on Wednesday to remove the infected areas of her intestine and is said to be 'stable, conscious and alert'.

Sigh......it's a shame how easily it is for people to want to overpower and torture one another. I hope she receives "justice".

I was reading one of the signs posted above that reads "don't tell me how to dress, tell them not to rape". I wonder how many parents sit down with their sons and explain to them how broad rape can be, meaning that it isn't just hunting a woman down in a dark alley and sexually assaulting her, but extends to even being in a relationship with someone who doesn't want to engage in sex at the moment and how that is considered rape and isn't acceptable in either form.

I have heard stories of women who have gotten ridiculously drunk and for some reason there is a man or even groups of men who have sex with the woman and somehow arrive at the conclusion that if the woman who is so drunk that she is pretty much passed out, didn't put up a protest or say "no", that they they got some form of consent to have sex. Sadly there are even women who gladly will date a man who has done this because the girl was clearly a "slut" or "jumpoff" in their eyes and somehow have been convinced to believe that the woman deserved whatever happened to her.

This is truly ridiculous. Before anyone thinks to type that women rape as well...just think that men aren't going to be instructed to come home before dark and, not to jog in parks alone etc. for fear of being violated and raped . Both scenarios are truly relevant, but on a vastly different scale.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot create polls in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum